The only way Rachael Flatt wins a medal is if the other skaters implode. They would have to have very bad skates for her to have a chance. She needs to work on her presentation, posture, spiral...........

Anything is possible at the Olympics....how many world class skaters don't have Olympic Gold for example? You just never know how nerves, distractions etc. will affect someone's performance. Just as you never know how those same factions might spur someone to have the skate of their life.

Re: Rachael's return to the US before the competition, I now see that Mirai is doing the same thing, giving the unavailability of ice time as the reason. So, apologies to Rachael for calling it a weird decision.

Nagasu will go back to Los Angeles on Sunday because there is little practice ice available here for the women until the end of this week. She returns to Vancouver on Friday.

Rachel's chance for a gold medal is pretty slim because she has more things going against her than for her. First, it is not really correct to compare her with the other upsets of past years. Tara was reigning world champion, so her upset over Michelle wasn't shocking considering that she beat Michelle a few times before. Sarah's upset was surprising but she was the 3rd ranked skater going to the Olympics and she just needed Irina and Michelle to falter, which they both did fortunatley for her. The similar case was for Arakawa who was expected to take home bronze. Unfortuantely for Rachel, the ladies' field is especially deep and there are too many strong contenders vying for medals. I think the sparkle of hope at Skate America is a bit misleading because not all of the top contenders were at that competition. At the Olympics, if Yuna faltered then some of the other contenders may take the lead not giving Rachel that chance again. If Rachel manages to medal, then I believe we'll be looking at a bigger splatfest than last Olympics because the odds against her are just too great.

Re: Rachael's return to the US before the competition, I now see that Mirai is doing the same thing, giving the unavailability of ice time as the reason. So, apologies to Rachael for calling it a weird decision.

I think this has always been common with the Ladies event at the Olympics. It's just so late in the Olympic schedule that most of the Ladies either go home or (if home is too far) find closer training facilities to camp out and train in peace for the week. In one of the funnier instances, part of why there are so many pictures of Michelle Kwan training at SLC in 2002 is because all the other ladies went home in the interim period. Kwan had also planned to go back to Southern California to train, but instead found herself with the practice ice all to herself so she stayed.

I think the ladies comp is more open then people think. All of the ladies are going to be under the pressure of keep with Yuna, and will attempt stuff they normally wouldn't. They only way this would change is if Yuna goes very early and doesn't get really high scores

I think the ladies comp is more open then people think. All of the ladies are going to be under the pressure of keep with Yuna, and will attempt stuff they normally wouldn't. They only way this would change is if Yuna goes very early and doesn't get really high scores

From what I saw in pairs, it seems the judges are going to keep the scores fairly close in order to make the competition to be decided in the LP. The only lady who may attempt more is Miki with her changed layout. Rochette will try to be as clean as possible and Mao is keeping her layout.

Yuna is still in Vancouver. She'll be arrive at Vancouver this Friday.
I heard Mao has a jinx of having good result if she trains in Japan before competition and enters competition country in a hurry. So Mao will stay in Japan until this Friday even though there's nearly 17 hours time difference between Nagoya and Vancouver.

yuna will win a medal ---> definetely.. the only question is what colour it will be..... i think it will be gold... she has learned her lesson the last two competitions where she struggled a bit and now she has had two months to prepare .. she's a strong competitor...

she only needs a strong short ( which should not be a big deal), going into the free with a 5-10 point lead and then rely on her pcs which will be at least 5 points higher than for the other ladies...

i really believe it's almost impossible for her not to take home the gold medal.... all the other ladies just don't have the consistency and stamina to battle her ( hit me if i'm wrong)... and those who have ( akiko, rachael) don't have the reputation to be really counted in ( reflected in rather low pcs)...